African Women

Women were very important in African society. They were guarded and treasured.
African women were looked upon with knowledge and respect. In fact, the earth and other life giving organisms such as plants, were looked upon with a feminine slant. Africans believed in a Mother Earth. Mother Earth was considered a force of all life on Earth. They believed that She controlled the growth and death of things on the Earth. Unlike the women in other medieval countries, African woman were considered capable of doing hard work outside the home. An example of this is with farming. Earlier on in the African medieval era farming was a job both women and men had. It was a hard job in the hot sun. With the adaptation of iron tools, farming became more efficient, so less people had to farm and more time could be spent on other tasks. When this happened some women left farming and did other jobs. One job women did was weaving. African women wove amazing designs that were called kente cloth. These intricate designs took a lot of time to make and required skills in math.

Similar to women in modern American society, women in medieval Africa valued beauty and had strong moral values. However, the concept of beauty and the types of values were very different for a medieval African woman. Beauty was important to Africans, however, unlike American beauty that values thinness, African women who were heavy were considered most attractive. In fact, some times before a woman got married they would spent time in a fattening hut. Although African women valued beauty, it was not as important as moral values. Important values to an African were strength and purity. For example, when a man wanted to marry someone his parents would do extensive research and find out about that woman’s background. The parents would make sure she was not lazy and was physically strong. The groom’s parents would investigate her record and make sure she hadn’t stolen, lied, disobeyed, or otherwise undermined her own integrity. They would also make sure the bride’s mom did not possess any of those qualities because they thought a daughter would turn out like her mom and maybe she would possess these traits later on. If the bride or her mom possessed any negative qualities, the girl was not eligible to be married. Once a woman was married her responsibilities were to work and have children.